London Calling for Conservative Mayor

Two years from now the people of London will go to the polls to select a new mayor to take on Sadiq Khan and for control of the London Assembly. At this moment the nominations for the candidates for the Conservative party are underway. I have my own preferences for some of them who currently work as ministers and GLA members.

I am currently working with one London Assembly Member who is helping me with the campaign for archery in the Commonwealth Games. However he has not put himself forward as a candidate. Keith Prince is the AM for Havering and Redbridge and is still working hard for the opposition against Mr Khan’s unfair and feckless leadership. I say feckless because Khan’s leadership has been about putting his own agenda ahead of the people of London and working only for his own interests. Especially with the way he keeps blaming others for his problems as a tactic to show to use us against his components.

I remember when Khan was running as mayor there was a rainstorm on polling day which resulted in a couple of polling stations been closed temporarily, which may have affected Zac Goldsmith’s chances. Another thing that may have been part of Khan’s success is a protest vote. At that time of the elections the EU referendum was running and Khan was an active Remain supporter. I think some Tories and Lib Dems may have voted for him to protect London’s financial welfare and European business interests from the Leave campaign. This just goes to show how much of an elitist collective operation there is in London against the rest of the country. More on that later.

My choices of candidates are also very much preferred by many other Tories in the hustings. My choices include Shaun Bailey, who is a current AM for Londonwide operations on the health committee. He is a former youth worker and a Commonwealth supporter with good potential for London’s youth services and the environment of the capital. Especially at a time when we need someone to deal with our air pollution. Then there’s Duwayne Brooks OBE, a friend of Stephen Lawrence who was with him on the night he died. A friend of mine is putting him forward to stand as a candidate and I think he has good potential. Especially as he has been vocally critical of Khan’s inaction on the murder epidemic that is sweeping London.

As well as these current political workers there are also some people with business credentials opting for the role. Richard Tice, the founder of Leave.EU and entrepreneur who worked with Nigel Farage and Aaron Banks. He is now an active supporter of enterprise that can expand into the open world beyond the EU and would be a good candidate to show London the way to go beyond the shackles of Brussels bureaucrats. Especially as we are in the process of leaving the EU.

Every Londoner has their own needs from their local government. Whoever takes on the role of mayor will have a tough job to do. The Conservatives will need a strong candidate to stand up and do the best for the city and the people. But what objectives matter the most for you in pursuit of your best perception of a great London? Well here are my priorities for the next mayor. If I ran for the job myself I’d make these objectives my own. Everyone dreams of running to make it a better place.

Post-Brexit Enterprise

By 2020 Britain would have left the European Union and a next step would be to increase trade, business and develop new innovation for the city to reach out the Commonwealth nation and the wider world. As a Leave activist I went in search of creative opportunities beyond Europe. I found some which already existed but had limitations because of Brussel’s regulations. One of these is import of food and drink from Kenya and Jamaica thanks to the businesses run and owned by the Afro-Caribbean communities in the East End. They can bring more of their produce over here if it weren’t for the EU’s tariffs on certain products.

In the past we have tried to do exclusive trade deals and commercial contracts with countries like Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada and the USA. So far the effects of leaving the EU has attracted investment from outside Europe and a gradual increase in productivity and wealth. Recently the UK won a contract to build a fleet of new frigates for the Australian Navy. The City of London’s financial district ought to have freedom to invest in attracting business with America rather the Germany. It’s an aspirational place for countries without political union and needs a helping hand with attracting shareholders from smaller developing countries.

All the signs show that Britain has a better future and in particular London as well.

Combat crime and Improve Community Relations.

This is likely to be an issue on everyone else’s agenda for the next mayor. Since Sadiq Khan took office his handling of the police and the social stability of London has been chaotic and full of mistrust. In the last 7 months alone London has had more murders than New York has had in a year, with more than 80 murders. As I write this only 24 hours ago someone was stabbed to death in Upminster Bridge station.

Part of this is because of the cuts he has made to the police forces in London. In Havering the police forces have been cut and reorganised to be shared between three boroughs. One furious mother said in a panel discussion to Mayor Khan ‘We don’t feel safe any more!‘.

According to sources close to me the mayor has been withholding funds for the City Hall’s own vanity projects. Projects which only the Khan wants, which include promoting diversity and protecting minorities. Which is just typical of a socialist with a background as a lawyer that has defended terror suspects at the expense of the country’s national security. I have a far greater understanding of this man whose idea of community cohesion is about assimilating people to serve his agenda.

So by the time the next mayor takes office I want to see these pretentious money wasting schemes scrapped and the police force to get back their funding. They were doing very well by the time Boris Johnson left office. On top of Khan’s disastrous record on crime are transport unions striking and increasing fare prices.

Referendums for Leaving Greater London

This is something that is particularly significant to me because of the connections to London. I covered it in an article for United Politics about the overgrowing boundaries of London and it’s centralised dominance of the UK. Although I live in Havering this borough is not always in London, sometimes it’s in Essex. Confused? Well that’s what I felt at first when I moved here at 14 in 1999.

Now when I moved to Hornchurch in 1999 I realised that I was going to transition from a London boy to an Essex man. However my town is not as Essex as it seems. It is geographically in Essex, but it is controlled from the London Assembly. In the years after the war the Westminster began a new coordination of local government for the major cities. London was to be invested in order to help with people whose homes had been lost or rendered dilapidated in order to transform the city and it’s people. Part of that included amalgamating the outer boroughs of the surrounding counties and taking control of their councils to form the Greater London Council.

In the process they built new towns and buildings to house the residents and created new places for people to live within the outer boroughs. Over the years some of Havering residents have started to associate themselves as Londoners, which isn’t what the locals want anymore. Me and them think that the city is overgrowing and controlling the home counties with London’s interests that only benefit the capital. So Hornchurch is an Essex town that is within a London Borough that gets it funding from the City Hall.

Over the last 60 years however this has had a power surge in the economy of the country and has made less of a significant impact in UK wide economic activity. London has grown so big for it’s boundaries that it has started to encroach into the livelihoods of the surrounding counties. I have to travel as far east as Chelmsford before I really see Essex. Havering is starting to become an inner East London suburb.

Last year Havering Council attempted to vote on an issue to make Havering a unitary district, whereby the council takes control of it’s own affairs and leave the London Assembly. It would also allow us to decide on projects that the locals want that benefit them. If we take control of the borough and become a unitary district we can act as a buffer to stop the City Hall distributing new housing to places that they can use to displace working class communities.

If you look into the story behind the Grenfell Tower fire you’ll find that there is a tale of two Londons. The council had the building covered in cladding to make it look more slightly to the rich residents of Kensington who said that it looked ‘ugly’ against the skyline. The residents of Grenfell however had some issues with other things that were taking place inside the building. Nothing was done and the building went up in flames shortly after. Now the residents of Grenfell are likely to be moved and relocated to another part of London. There is now two Londons, one working class that covers the Eastern parts and one middle class that covers the Western side of London.

I reckon that by reducing London’s control and areas of land the City Hall will be forced to balance the provisions in a way that no one will be pushed out unfairly.

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Published by Charlie Keeble

My name is Charlie Keeble, this is my blog telling all about adventures and passions I indulge in. I have so many activities in my life that I alternate between with a creative flair.
I'm known for many different identities: The Autistic Conservative, The Grand Geek of Essex and Commonwealth Games representative for archery. Those titles speak for what I am.
I believe that all forms of life were created differently in nature and we should embrace those individual strengths, passions and abilities in a non-judgemental manner. Inequality is a fact of life and we should accept all classes of citizens. I am a county genius in Essex and a proud geek about my subjects and advocate for enterprise with a social objective and push for my own objectives with pride and determination.
My ambition in life is to go out and show the world the best of my abilities. Some autistics talk of the struggles of living with their mental health conditions, I teach people to embrace autism in a positive and proactive way. There are too many passions to embrace and everyone of them should have a purpose to live with you.
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